Inver Grove Heights, MN limits Obama's talk to students!

[mediaman007]

Call me uniformed, but I wasn't aware that President O'bama was planning to speak to America's students next week. Anyway, apparently the Teabaggers have chosen to make it political.

Here is an item that has been distributed to teachers in the Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota school district:


2. The district has had a number of calls (concerns) from parents inquiring about President Obama's address to students on the first day of school. The district position is: 1. If you view/show it, you must let me know that you intend to do so. 2. You must notify parents in advance of the showing (hard to do since it's the first day of school) and 3. You must provide an alternative activity for students(parents) that choose not to participate. See me if you have questions, but I think the message is clear.


I'm speechless! It isn't a family life video!

[glinda]

1. Bet they took calls from unnamed parents from outside the area. Just saw the

Super of Minneapolis Public Schools speaking. His name is something like "go fly a kite". Ass. Idiot. Numskull.

[bjb]

9. Start calling

Hello, this is David Axner, Superintendent of the Dublin City Schools. I am calling this morning to inform you of some new protocols for President Obama's live address to our students.

During the past two or three days we have received some very strong arguments on whether or not the President's' live broadcast should be part of school day.

As with any decision, we constantly assess the input of our school community and staff and how day to day operations are affected. There will be a live broadcast of the President’s address on Tuesday.

The live broadcast of the web address will be available in designated areas of each school. Students should bring a signed note from a parent to be excused from their regularly scheduled classroom activities to attend the live broadcast at noon.

Students who will not be viewing the speech will continue their normal school day.

For parents who are undecided, the White House has now made the decision to release the transcript of the speech on Monday.

This was found on Daily Kos.

[Minnesota Raindog]

2. Becker School District superintendent restricts Obama speech to tape, with opt-out

This is fucking outrageous--a feel-good motivational speech to students from the President of the United States is treated like a lecture from a porn star. This is what we pay school superintendents hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for?

Here's the letter sent to staff at the Becker School District by Superintendent Steven Dooley. He can--and should--be reached by phone at 763-261-4502, x3116.


Dear Staff, A late notice has arrived that President Obama will be addressing the nation's school children at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8th and while I welcome any public figures effort to inspire our children to study hard and do well in school, the political climate of the nation, and based on the phone calls I have received the community, is such that not everyone is in support of the President's well meaning intentions. So please be informed of the district's position on the matter below. We all need to be on the same page on this.

The District Position on the Presidential Address:

The address will be taped and made available to buildings for showing at the appropriate time and after parents have been informed and offered and opportunity to opt out.

Rationale:

1. Late notice makes preparation and parent notification difficult
2. Broadcast time is during lunch hours creating a logistical problem
3. This is, unfortunately, a politically charged event and without the aforementioned parent notification we could be alienating some parents and children. Not the way we want to start the new school year.

[CatholicEdHead]

3. Well, John Kline is making a hubub about nothing

http://politicalblogs.startribune.com/bigquestionblog/?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUycaEacyU

:crazy:

Kline, the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, sent a letter to President Obama requesting a preview of next week’s speech to millions of students so that parents can determine whether it is appropriate for children. The speech has been billed as the first time “an American president has spoken directly to the nation’s school children about persisting and succeeding in school.”

“Just as parents are able to review a textbook before it is used or consider a planned field trip before children leave the classroom, public consideration of your remarks in advance of the live address would ensure parents can review them, make an informed decision about whether the material is appropriate for their children, and engage them accordingly,” Kline wrote along with Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter, R-MI.

The four-term congressman noted that “questions have arisen” about the purpose of the speech, and said a preview of the text would “facilitate the public’s understanding” of the event. Alexa Marrero, a spokeswoman for the Republicans on Kline’s committee, said several House members have approached them with concerns from constituents about Obama delivering a political speech to students.

Part of that concern, Merrero added, arises from the Department of Education’s suggested activities and discussions for schoolteachers. Though the DoE instructions have since been revised, they once encouraged students to write themselves a letter discussing “how to help the president.”

[krispos42]

5. "whether it is appropriate for children"...

What the fuck do they think he's going to say???


Greetings, students of America, I'm President Obama and I'm incredibly pleased to speak to you today. I have a lot to talk about, but I've decided to stray a little bit from my prepared remarks.

I'm sorry to tell you, we're fucked. Really and truly fucked. The Republicans mortgaged your future when they cut taxes on the rich back when YOUR mommies and daddies were still trying to figure out if the opposite sex was yucky or not. You see, boys and girls, the Republican cut taxes on the rich, then to fill the giant gaping hole in the budget started borrowing money. And every year it got higher and higher, except for a few years during the Clinton years.

And now we've got a huge crisis, and because we went $9 trillion dollars (that's nine million millions, boys and girls) into debt before the economic crisis hit, now that we actually NEED that credit, we don't have it. The rich bastards that have been cutting your school budgets, moving your mommy's and daddy's jobs to communist China, and deregulated the financial industry... they have all the money. And communist China does, which is why when they run over pro-democracy protesters with army tanks we pretend it never happened.

So, we're fucked. I know what needs to be done, and I know that the rich are far to powerful to let what needs to be done happen. They won't let themselves be taxed more because they "earned" the money after bribing Congressmen and women into passing giant tax cuts for them.

They won't let me take control of our economic borders because that would mean having to give your mommy and daddy higher-paying jobs and maybe even a labor union to fight for them.

They won't let me pass universal single-payer insurance so that your parents are tied to their jobs for insurance. Now your parents, to protect their family from medical mishaps, have to repress their entrepreneurial spirit and innovative ideas.

They won't let me get us off of oil so we're not forced to protect theoretical, dictatorial mass-murdering governments. Or so that we can have clean air that doesn't cause cancer and birth defects, and our climate is stable and our food supply secure.

So, we're fucked. The rich and powerful aren't; they will simply create little secure insular communities to hide in so the impending collapse of our nation won't affect their ability to play Segway polo... if they even bother to stay here. There's an excellent chance they'll relocate to a country that DOES offer universal health care, strong labor unions, clean energy, and such to continue to enjoy advanced Western culture. After all, with today's advanced communication technology they can plan the exploitation of small defenseless nations just as easily from their villa in France as their beachhouse in Malibu.

I'd like to encourage you to study hard, but by the time you graduate you'll probably be eating rats for food or fighting a guerrilla war against Chinese occupation forces. That's assuming they didn't use nuclear weapons on us.

Well, I can see that my staff has literally shit themselves, so I'd better go before they pass out. Thank you and have a pleasant afternoon.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Nice!

:rofl:

[krispos42]

8. Thanks!

:-)

[Minnesota Raindog]

7. Priceless!

I will be forwarding that on to a few people. Thanks!

[mediaman007]

4. Here's a great activity:

1. Assign the students to watch the President's talk at home
2. Come to school prepared to discuss the things in the President's speech that some would find objectionable.

[spedtr90]

10. SW minnesota district

Letter to staff from the supt.

"...I have concerns regarding the disruption this brings upon our first day back to school and the important tasks that are at hand for teaching staff. As today has progressed, it seems there are more concerns being voiced regarding messages that are embedded within this upcoming message to our students from President Obama. Currently, a real problem exists in that school officials and staff have not had a chance to view it.

... once this message has been viewed by staff to ensure it is appropriate and does not contain policy level messages, then staff can plan to use it in the future when they feel it is an appropriate part of a lesson to encourage their students."

I guess we'll need to protect the kids from the news too. Can we talk about current events, or is that policy related?

I still can't believe he sent this.

[mascarax]

11. "policy level messages"?!

It's been very clear what the President was going to cover. The fact that these Superintendents throughout the country (not all - the response by the Westport, CT-based guy was wonderful; in another thread here on DU) are responding with complete nonsense to irrational bigots makes me question who these people are and how they got their jobs. (I suppose it's not much different than the corporate world?)

Who are these people to question the "appropriateness" of a speech by the President of the United States?! When we all know it's about staying in school, working hard, etc. It's just sickening.